Maybe a difference would be that most USAF pilots had already gone to college, had similar frat experiences and then went to UPT. We're not all Academy grads. Virginia Tech here.

Another difference, possibly, is that many Air Force pilots a year or two removed from UPT would be fighting in combat, dropping bombs and killing people while being shot at. A little more sphincter-tightening than flying an ILS in a Cessna.

 

Some of it was blowing off steam. The fact is it's dangerous. All of us had close calls. It's unavoidable.

 

You've obviously never watched me try to fly an ILS in a Cessna... Talk about a "come to Jesus" experience....

Never been shot at and never dropped a bomb on anything more significant than the crew lounge toilet. However, I have had plenty of sphincter-tightening moments flying a rundown Baron full of cancelled checks...or flying Lifeflight missions in less than ideal (or legal) conditions... or trying to deliver the freight to some crap ass 3rd world city by flying some crap ass cobbled together NDB approach in the middle of the night just to spend the night in the airplane waiting for the morning's load out.

Almost everyone here has made their bones one way or another. Call me cranky, but the civ/mil dick measuring contests are just getting old.

Why the F does it matter whether we call it "Class Drop", "Class Assignment", or "Sorry, Dude, enjoy your Newark layovers on the 717"

Honestly, who gives a sh!t.

 

I agree! Why didn't you direct your response to BB? That was my point exactly.

Go back and read the thread bro.

 

I wasn't offended before, but golly, I am now! Have YOU ever flown an ILS in a Cessna?

You weren't even there, man!

 

Actually, I have! And I suck!

 

Well, alright then.

 

Assignment Night, Drop Night, wow, what great memories. My own drop night was fantastic, plenty of alcohol, shenanigans and things I may never do again.
Once I became a Flight Commander at UPT, I dreaded Assignment Night and looked forward to it with equal measure. Having a hand in the future of someone's life for the next 10 years is a humbling experience, the drama of watching the excitement and utter collapse was one of the most interesting things of my time in the USAF. I still remember the first guy to get an UAV out of Assignment Night, the guy looked like he had been sentenced to death by a jury of his peers, but fully accepted his situation knowing he had "earned" it. Even still, it was heartbreaking.
Assignment Night/Drop Night was the culmination of greater than 52 weeks of intense, gratifying and excruciating work (college, applying to UPT, IFT, medicals before that), the chance to blow off some steam should've never been taken away. I fear in today's military it has been.

 

Bar, with all due respect, you don't get it, because you never suffered the scrutiny of going through Military Flight Training.

The thing about Military Flight Training and Drop Nighte is, once you get your wings, they OWN YOU!

Unlike my soft Civilian Pilot life before joining the AF, you can't just walk away if you don't like what you get, and go look for another job flying for someone else.

You have to perform, or your going to be in a missile silo in Turky for 6 years!

Drop night is the MOST IMPORTANT NIGHT OF YOUR LIFE!!

Why?

Because it determines your career path, and most likely the rest of your life while in the Military.

Your first assignment lasts about 3 years, kiss all the right asses, maybe you get a better assignment after that. There is NOTHING you can do about it and it's a lot like Russian Roulette.

Fighter? Heavy? IP? Where??

On the beach?

Or in Europe?

Or please no God...

NOT a B52 to Minot!

That's why we get drunk, that's why we blow it out, it's your last chance. The next day you are going to have to wake up and face the reality of your assignment....for the rest of your career.

It's a lot more important than any Frat party, or which RJ you got.

 

Are you really comparing flying cancelled checks with flying an F-117 over Baghdad during the first night of Desert Storm, or the helo guys that flew SEAL Team 6 into Osama bin Laden's compound in Pakistan, or my airdropping of the 82nd Airborne into Grenada while AAA guns were raking the airplane? Really? Were you shot at? Did you watch your buddies get shot down and die? Did you have the American flag on your shoulder and your fellow soldiers depending on you to not eff up? Really?

We don't all have similar "bones." Please don't try and compare my experience to yours. It's not the same and you cannot understand that. At our current airline, we're all equal. That's great. But don't assume you know what the military guys have gone through and experienced. Just don't.

I guess its a generational thing. You guys are more clueless than I could ever have imagined.